8.05.18 – (LAA/LUS) – Implementation of Crew Portal, ETB, TTS and ROTA Issues

With the implementation of Crew Portal, ETB, TTS and ROTA there have been significant challenges for the LAA Flight Attendants. What have proven the greatest challenge have been the implementation of ROTA and the process of validating that it is honoring contractual language.Issues that have surfaced and are currently being addressed include:

• ROTA logic and the correct award and assignment of sequences, standby and RAP’s. Transparency is key to this validation and needs improvement. We have met with the Company and ROTA team to address these issues and will continue to work with them until the issues are fixed.
• During the month-to-month transition there are situations when the Flight Attendants require a 24-hour release to satisfy the 24/7 FAR requirement. Currently crew scheduling is randomly removing Flight Attendants from Reserve duty, however when they do this there is no removal code in FOS and subsequently no update in crew portal. Additionally crew scheduling is not notifying the Flight Attendants of this removal prior to the release from duty, which in turn directly impacts your awards and assignments in ROTA. The Flight Attendant must be notified prior to the release from duty, per the FAR. Furthermore, it is only being updated in your HI1 and HI2 and not crew portal. We have meet with the Company to address how they plan to resolve this critical issue.
• There have been a multitude of issues occurring. The breakdown has been with proper follow-up procedures between the parties. The Company has a responsibility to get these issues resolved in a timely fashion, notify the impacted Flight Attendants and provide resolution when necessary.
• Please note: There have been many Red Flag sequences over the last couple of days. What is different is that when these sequences are identified as Red Flag they must be run through the Unsuccessful Bidders List (UBL) prior to the ROTA run the day before. There will be regular updates when sequences are identified as Red Flag on crew portal and CCI.
• There are four groupings of Reserve concerning days of reserve availability. 1, 2, 3 and 4 or more days. It would appear at first glance that ROTA was programmed for Flight Attendants who may have 5 or 6 days of reserve availability. The JSIC was very clear during development that there should not be 5 or 6-day groupings as these sequences are extremely rare. We did meet with the Company to expect an update on this issue very shortly.
• We have identified an issue with ETB: some Lineholders attempting to pick up trips have been receiving error messages assuming they are on Reserve. Although this has been limited to a small number of Flight Attendants it is an important issue that needs immediate attention. If you have encountered this issue, please call APFA to with the following information:  the sequence attempted to pick up, date and time of the attempt.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of the issues that are currently being addressed. If you have any questions or concerns, APFA representatives are available to assist. Additionally the Flight Attendant Bidding Resource Center (FABRC) is available. With the high call volume you may experience long wait times. We appreciate your patience as we get to your call as quickly as possible or return your message in order received. We are committed to ensure the company provides necessary fixes and resolution to these issues as soon as possible.

In Solidarity,